Sonic Chronicles: A New World
by SonicKnuxMiku25096
Summary: This is a story about Sonic the Hedgehog and how he and Knuckles the Echidna fall into the human world and are found by a 13 year old girl named Rachel. She takes them in and takes care of them, but then things go wrong.


Sonic Chronicles: A New World

Some of these characters are from SEGA. I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS!

Chapter One:

There was nothing about the warm forgiving sun beating down on the peaceful Earth that would suggest anything strange was going to happen. Some unsuspecting person would walk by and say, "Hey! Nothing wrong here!" But something was wrong. Very wrong.

A medium sized house with brownish-red bricks from the outside was quiet and peaceful, with plants all around it. But the youngest child knew better. She had a secret. A secret that she told no one. Not her best friends, not her parents, and definitely not her older sister.

"Why can't I go outside just once?" asked an irritated voice.

"Ugh, I already told you! The people will see you and you'll be taken away!" the girl said. She was tapping her fingers in the caramel brown kitchen table, and twirling her soft brown hair with the other hand. Her mysterious green and yellow eyes were staring through the glass door to her left that separated the kitchen from the patio room.

Meanwhile, her friend, in agitation, was running up and down the stairs throughout the house, going from one floor to the next in less than a second.

"Sonic, why are you so upset? I thought you liked it here!" the girl asked. Sonic skidded to a stop to the right of the table and looked up at her. He was barely as tall as the leg of the table and had to tilt back very far, even though she was sitting down.

"Rachel, you know I hate being inside too long!" Sonic said. His green eyes stared down at the floor, tapping his foot.

Chapter Two:

His dark blue spikes grew brighter as the sun came through the window. Everything was quiet except for Sonic tapping his foot.

Then, Rachel's eyes widened.

"Oh no…" she whispered. Sonic looked up in alarm.

"What is it?" There was a loud _bang_ from a white door down the hallway to the left of Sonic.

"My parents are home! You've gotta hide!" Rachel shouted. Sonic immediately sprinted up to Rachel's room and hid in her closet under her shirt rack.

There was another loud _bang _as Rachel's parents came in the kitchen. Her mom's small quick footsteps were followed by her dad's slow and heavy ones.

"Hey there, sweetie!" her mom cheerfully said, "How was school today?"

"Good," Rachel replied with a smile.

"Is that what you always say?" her father joked, "Didn't anything eventful happen?"

Rachel shrugged. "Not really. Just some homework, class work, tests, your typical school day."

Her dad sighed. "Sometimes I think you're keeping things from us."

Rachel's heart leapt. _Could he possibly know? _She thought. _No. Never._

Her mother and father put their bags down and went upstairs. Rachel's heart started to beat faster. She prayed over and over that they didn't find Sonic in the usual hiding spot. She stared out the glass door again as the leaves swayed side to side on the trees.

Meanwhile, Sonic was starting to get agitated. Why did he have to be stuck in a closet all day? He knew that Rachel was just trying to protect him, but it was really frustrating. He closed his eyes and remembered how Rachel had saved him while he was unconscious not too far from the house. She had saved his life after he had fallen from his world all of a sudden.

His eyes snapped open. He could hear footsteps outside of Rachel's room. If they found him, what would happen to him? Would they send him to the cops? Would he het sent to an animal shelter? These thoughts quickly went away as the footsteps faded. He took a deep breath, laid on the floor, and wondered what was going on in his world.

It was raining all around him. Lightning flashed before his eyes. The Master Emerald was at his back getting soaked. The wind howled in his ears as his red dreadlocks whipped behind him. Then, a sudden flash appeared below his feet. "What…? NOOOOO!" It opened up and Knuckles was suddenly falling into a strange dimension.

Chapter Three:

"Well honey, we're going to the grocery store. You can eat whatever for dinner. Call us if you need anything!" Rachel's mom kissed Rachel on the forehead and followed her husband out the door. Rachel stared after them. All she had to do was wait for the _vroom _of the car and she could tell Sonic the coast was clear.

1…2…3… She could hear the loud ticks of the clock in the almost silent room. _Vrooooooommmmmmm_ She could hear the car roll out of the garage smoothly. She sighed, slowly rose to her feet, and walked on the hard tile floor to the stairs.

Sonic could see the sun falling, making a peach and purple color in the sky. He had emerged from the closet and opened Rachel's window to look outside. At first, he sat there and admired the light colored sky. But then, the stars started to appear as the sky grew darker. The moon grew ever so brighter with the black sky.

He felt a sudden twinge of pain in his chest. At first he ignored it, thinking that it would go away soon. But the pain grew more intense, and soon, it felt like there were knives stabbing his whole body. It grew extremely intense. Sonic fell to the ground, grunting in pain. He could feel something happening to him as he experienced the pain he knew all too well.

Rachel opened the door.

"Ok, Sonic, you can come out now. My parents will be gone for… OH MY GOSH!" Rachel's eyes darted like they were avoiding something. She looked around.

"Sonic? Sonic? Where are you!" The window was shattered right in the middle and the sheets on her bed were torn like paper Mache. But Sonic was nowhere to be found. Rachel walked to the window and looked out of the shattered part into the rest of the neighborhood. _Where could he be? _She wondered.

He opened his eyes slowly. It had been a hard landing and he felt temporarily immobile. He finally started to get up, but it was very difficult. He grunted in pain as he rose to his feet. He looked around at the strange world. He noticed a place full of houses. Knuckles slowly started to walk over there full of curiosity.

Chapter Four:

Rachel couldn't stop pacing. Her heels made loud pounding sounds as she quickly moved from the kitchen to the living room. _Why isn't he back? _She thought. Her eyes snapped to the clock. 8:47 a.m.

Rachel's eyes started to get misty. What if something had happened to him? What if it was her fault that he was gone? She put her face in her hands and started to cry. Maybe he was sick of her and being stuck inside all the time.

"Please come back…" She whispered to herself, "please…" _ding dong_ Rachel snapped her head towards the front door. She stood there and looked at it. _Ding dong_ She finally ran towards the door, unlocked both locks, and yanked the door open. Sonic was standing there, smiling at her. He looked as though he hadn't gotten any sleep for a week. Rachel kneeled down threw her arms around Sonic. She started crying harder than ever. Sonic put his arms around her.

"Don't cry Rachel. I'm fine," he reassured her.

"But where did you go?" Rachel asked letting go of him and wiping her eyes. Sonic frowned. How could he even begin to tell her what happens to him at night?

"Um, I just needed some air. Sorry about the window." He smiled at her again.

"Well, you should probably come inside," Rachel said, "my parents will be home soon." Rachel went back into the kitchen as Sonic stepped inside. He looked behind him. He stared outside for a moment. _Is somebody out there? _Sonic wondered. He forgot about it and closed the door.

"It seemed a little over the top," Rachel said, making spaghetti, "crashing through the window just to get outside." Sonic laughed.

"Yeah, I guess I should've taken the door like regular people." He walked into the living room and sat on the couch. He started to remember what had happened the previous night. He looked into the kitchen at Rachel. _Should I tell her? _He wondered. _If so, when?_

_Ding dong _Sonic looked at the door. Rachel stopped what she was doing and looked too. _Who could that be? _She wondered. She walked to the front door and cautiously opened it.

Knuckles saw Sonic running up to one of the houses. It had brownish red bricks and at least a hundred different kinds of plants. _Why is he here? _Knuckles thought, _And why is he going to that house?_

He saw Sonic walk in and suddenly became curious. He cautiously made his way up to it.

When he reached the green front door, he took a deep breath and rang the door bell. He heard footsteps and someone opening it on the other side.

Chapter Five:

The moment Rachel opened the door, she was stunned. Who was this person, and why was he here? Sonic came to the door to see who was there and gasped.

"Knuckles? How did you get here?" At first, Knuckles didn't respond. He just stood there staring at Sonic.  
"I was wondering the same thing," Knuckles replied, crossing his arms, "You're usually responsible for these things."

"Hey, you think I'm the one responsible? Try asking Dr. Eggman!"

"You're the one who takes things too far! Plus, you always have the Chaos Emeralds with you!" The whole time the two of them were fighting, Rachel was standing by them with her mouth wide open. What was really going on? She finally concluded to sitting on the steps and waiting for them to stop bickering. But, that took awhile, because they both thought they were right. When they finally stopped shouting at each other, they had their backs to each other and their arms crossed. After several silent moments, Knuckles looked over at Rachel. This was the first time he had noticed her.

"And who are you supposed to be?" he asked.

"Um, Sonic," Rachel said turning towards him, "Is this a friend of yours?"

Sonic snorted. "We used to be. But now it appears that he hates my guts!" Sonic and Knuckles only looked at each other once.

Knuckles was still staring at Rachel. "You still haven't answered my question."

Rachel turned back to Knuckles. "Oh," she started out, "I'm Rachel. I live here." She had no idea of what else to say. Knuckles' purple eyes still stared at her as if she was going to attack him if he looked away even for a second.

Sonic stomped over to Rachel. "Come on! We don't need him." He grabbed Rachel's hand and dragged her upstairs, leaving Knuckles to stare at Rachel as her and Sonic went up step by step.

"You should kick him out!" Sonic stated. Rachel and him were in her room. Sonic was on her bed looking at the ceiling. He looked as though somebody had kicked him in the face and he wanted revenge.

Rachel shook her head. "No."

"Why not!?" Sonic yelled sitting upright.

"1. Because it's rude. 2. He could get arrested just like you! 3. You two could become best friends again!" Sonic grunted. She sighed.

"Look, I want you two to become friends again! Plus, he has nowhere else to go! Do you want him to be like a hobo or something?" Then, a loud _bang _came from outside. Sonic's eyes widened.

"Isn't that…?" Rachel sprinted downstairs. Knuckles was still in the exact same position.

"Knuckles, come up here now!" Knuckles looked up at her in alarm, but he still came up anyways. Rachel grabbed his arm and pushed him into her room. He became aggravated by this but made no comment. She then shoved him and Sonic under her bed.

Just then, the front door opened and a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes stepped in with a Mickey Mouse purse.

Chapter Six:

"Mom? Dad?" The girl sighed, "Or my loser sister?" Rachel refused to move. She had to make sure that her sister didn't find Sonic or Knuckles.

The girl stood still and looked around the front hallway. "I know you're here Rachel!" she yelled. Rachel took a deep breath. There was no getting out of facing her. She slowly made her way out of her room and down the creaking steps.

"Hey Katie," she said. Katie turned towards her. She scowled.

"How did I know that you're the only here?" Rachel didn't move. She tried to hide her anger towards her hateful sister. Katie shrugged.

"Whatever," she sighed, "don't talk to me. But right now you have to make dinner." She strutted into the kitchen and looked at the dinner Rachel was previously making. She grinned.

"Well Rachel," she said turning towards her, "you'd better keep cooking." Katie turned around and walked into the living room. While her back was turned, Rachel stuck out her tongue at her.

"I can't believe I have to stay under here with you!" Sonic whispered with his chin in his hand. Knuckles glared at him.

"Hey, you're the one who got us into this mess! What did you do, use the Chaos Emeralds to transport us here?" Sonic laughed.

"It's always my fault isn't it? You know, I'm not responsible for every little thing that goes wrong!"

Knuckles turned away from him. The two of them stayed silent for several moments. Then, Sonic felt a sharp pain in his chest. His eyes widened.

"Oh no," he whispered, "not now." Knuckles turned towards him in surprise. "What's wrong now?" The pain spread throughout Sonic's body. He grunted and scrambled to the other side of the bed. He got out from under it and jumped through the shattered part of the window.

"Hey!" Knuckles yelled after him. He got out from under the bed and jumped out the window too.

Two loud thuds came from outside. Rachel gasped and dropped the pot in her hands, spilling pasta everywhere. She ran towards the window and pulled up the blinds. She barely caught a glimpse of Knuckles running to the houses behind her house. At first, she was frozen to the spot. Then, her brain started functioning again, and she ran upstairs. She halted at her room. She couldn't see Sonic anywhere. _He must be gone too, _She thought. She sprinted back downstairs and heaved the door open.

"Where do you think you're going!?" Katie yelled to her. Rachel didn't pay attention. She ran behind the house and ran to where Knuckles was headed.

Sonic ran between houses. It was difficult to get away fast enough considering he wasn't as fast as his usual self. He looked back for a moment and saw that he had lost Knuckles. He caught his breath in a ditch nearby and hoped that Knuckles wouldn't find him.

Knuckles ran between many houses and through several bushes at top speed. _Why is Sonic trying to get away? _He wondered. He caught a glimpse of Sonic going into a ditch. He skidded to a stop at the top of the ditch. He gasped. _Is that really Sonic? _He thought. He looked at Sonic for a long time. He had fangs, claws, spikes on his shoes, and bigger arms and black hair. _Why is Sonic like this? _He wondered.

Chapter Seven:

Sonic looked up. His eyes grew bigger when he saw Knuckles standing at the top of the ditch with his mouth gaped open. Sonic was shocked. Hadn't he lost him?

"How…? Why are you…?" Knuckles stuttered. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. "What have you become?" he asked. Sonic couldn't speak. He hadn't wanted anyone else to find out. But, he knew that there was no use in running.

"At night," he started, "I turn into a werehog." Knuckles flinched. He noticed that Sonic's voice was deeper too. "But why?" Sonic sighed.

"Long story short, I tried to stop Eggman, but he tricked me and turned me into this."

At first, Knuckles was at a loss for words. But several silent moments later, he said, "Does Rachel know about this?" Sonic shook his head. "No. She can't, it would just make her upset. So please, don't tell her!" There was a look of plead in Sonic's eyes. Knuckles pondered on it for a moment. If he told her, she would know the truth, and there would be no secrets. If he didn't tell her, she wouldn't become more stressed or worried about Sonic. After a few moments of hard thinking, Knuckles nodded his head. Then, a rustling sound came from behind him.

"You should get of here Sonic, now!" Knuckles whispered. Sonic nodded and ran into a nearby forest, while Knuckles faced the source of the noise.

"Sonic! Knuckles!" Rachel was growing hoarse as she ran through the shrubs in the dark of the night. She stopped, gasping for breath with her hands on her knees. Then, she looked up. She heard faint whispering in the distance. Feeling hopeful, she ran between two more houses and emerged to find Knuckles standing at the top of a ditch.

"Oh, Rachel," he said, his eyes widening in surprise, "I thought you were somebody else."

Rachel looked around for a moment. "Where's Sonic?" she asked. Knuckles' face drained of color. _What do I tell her? _He thought, _I promised Sonic that I wouldn't tell her._

"Um," he began, "he's…out getting some air. He didn't like being stuck under the bed." Rachel's eyes started to water. Her mouth started to twitch. _Does he hate me? _She wondered. Knuckles started getting nervous. _Don't cry, _he prayed, _please don't cry._

"Uh, um," he stuttered, "don't worry Rachel! He'll be back in the morning! But right now, we should go back inside." Rachel sniffled and nodded. Knuckles took her hand and lead her back to her house.

Sonic didn't know what to do. He had to wait until morning to go back to Rachel's house. He figured that she was worried, but should he tell her? Sonic sat down and hugged his knees to his chest observing his claws and remembered how this had happened to him.

Chapter Eight:

"Ok, you can sleep in my bed if you want to!"

"Heck no! I am NOT sleeping in your bed!"

"We wouldn't be in there at the same time! I would sleep on the couch!"

"NO!" Knuckles was looking as though somebody had just insulted him. He was sitting on the couch getting more and more agitated. Rachel was sitting on the other side of the couch scratching her head. She didn't want to be rude, but Knuckles wouldn't cooperate.

"Well then, where do you want to sleep?" Rachel said giving up on any of her ideas. Knuckles didn't say anything. He didn't even want to stay. All he wanted was to go home. He didn't mean to be rude. He didn't want her to think that he hated her. On the contrary, he thought that Rachel was kind of pretty.

_Knock, knock. _Knuckles frowned. Rachel ran to the door and opened it. Sonic was standing there as his usual self in the doorway, and opened his mouth to say something, but Rachel grabbed him and yanked him inside before he could say anything.

"Why do you keep disappearing!?" Rachel cried as she hugged Sonic so tight that he was gasping for breath. Knuckles rolled his eyes. He stood up and headed towards the door. Rachel glanced up at him. She immediately let go of Sonic, who started to cough trying to regain his air.

"Where are you going?" Rachel asked as Knuckles walked out the door. Knuckles said nothing. He just kept walking until he got to the sidewalk. He then turned right and kept on going. _I don't need their little love fest. _Knuckles thought. When Sonic had gotten all of his breath back, he ran to the door to see what was going on. When he saw Knuckles walking away, he frowned.

"Ah, well," he sighed, "if he wants to be alone, let him go." He looked up at Rachel. She was determinedly staring at the ground. Sonic took her hand in his. She slowly looked up at him in surprise, her face getting warmer and the shade of light red. Sonic smiled slightly at her. He slowly started to take her into the living room and set her on the couch. He sat next to her, keeping his hand in hers the whole time. He put himself close to Rachel. She could feel her face burning.

"Everything will be all right Rachel," Sonic whispered. Rachel didn't know what was going on. She felt confused but comforted at the same time. Sonic whispered in her ear, "I love you." He put his lips onto hers as Rachel's face grew warmer than ever.

Chapter Nine:

Knuckles was alone sitting cross-legged with his arms crossed as well in a clearing surrounded by trees. He had tried over and over to think of ways to get back home, but all ended in no success. All he wanted was to get back home and protect the Master Emerald like he had promised. As he tried to think of new ways of getting home, a random thought popped into his head. _I wonder how Rachel's doing. _His eyes grew to the size of watermelons. The sudden thought surprised him. He shook his head, his red dreadlocks swishing, trying to clear his mind. "It's only because she took care of you," he whispered to himself. He closed his eyes and followed his thoughts back to Angel Island, the paradise in which he lived. Then, the thought of Rachel and Sonic being alone together drifted into his head. His eyes snapped open.

A demon inside of him was growing. Rachel, Sonic, _alone. _He began shaking with fury. _He doesn't deserve her! _He thought angrily. And then, he understood. He understood how he truly felt. With this sudden realization, Knuckles sprang up and ran towards Rachel's house.

Sonic was lying on the couch. He couldn't believe what had just happened. He had no idea what had come over him. He had felt that way about Rachel for awhile, but he didn't know that he would tell her like this. Now she was confused. She had moved to the kitchen saying that she needed to work on something, but Sonic knew better. He knew that she was avoiding him. He buried his face in his hands.

Rachel was sitting at the kitchen table, staring at its many scratches and dents from years of use. What had just happened? She always had feelings for Sonic, but she never thought that he would have feelings for her. It had felt strange, but comforting at the same time, being that close to him. She closed her eyes, and decided to tell him how she felt. She stood up rapidly and said, "I love you too, Sonic."

Sonic took his hands from his face, got off the couch and ran into the kitchen in less than two seconds. "Really?" he asked excitedly. Rachel nodded, smiling brightly as her eyes got misty. Sonic smiled back at her. He swept her off her feet, ran with her out the door, while carrying her across his arms. Rachel wrapped her arms around Sonic and laughed as he carried her to the nearby forest.

Knuckles could see Rachel's house in the near distance. His feet pounded against the gravel as he got closer. But something else came into view. He could see Sonic carrying Rachel to the forest. With sudden fury, Knuckles ran faster towards them. He saw Sonic turn right into a clearing. Knuckles ran faster than ever before, the branches and leaves crunching under his shoes. He skidded to a stop. Rachel and Sonic were really close together on a rock near a creek. They weren't exactly kissing, but they were really close. He stepped a little closer. They were getting even closer, if that was possible. "Rachel?" Sonic and Rachel turned suddenly in absolute shock, Rachel's arms still wrapped around Sonic.

"Oh, Knuckles," Rachel said blushing and smiling weakly. Sonic frowned.

"I assume you came for Rachel," he said giving Knuckles a, "I can't believe you're back" type of looks. Knuckles nodded. "I need to tell her something, _alone."_

Sonic gave Rachel a questioning look. Rachel nodded and whispered, "I'll be fine." Sonic glared back at Knuckles and went to a nearby tree to eavesdrop without them noticing.

Rachel turned back to Knuckles. Knuckles didn't want to waste time, so he got to the point.

"Rachel, I've felt something for you for a long time," he said blushing. "I…I…," he stuttered weakly, stepping up to Rachel, "I love you." Rachel gasped. She was so shocked that what came next almost made her pass out. Knuckles leaned forward and kissed Rachel square on the lips, and fury built up inside of Sonic as he watched his best friend try and steal his girlfriend.

Chapter Ten:

Sonic was outraged. Why would Knuckles do this? He knew that it wasn't Rachel's fault. They were still kissing, Rachel's eyes wide open in surprise.

To break them up, Sonic threw a rock at a nearby tree. As it made a loud _thud _sound, Knuckles jumped back in surprise. Sonic stepped out from the forest into the clearing, making sure to show no emotion. Rachel was laying on the rock, her face the egg shade of white. Knuckles had fallen into the creek, looking flustered and wet.

"Did something happen that I should know about?" Sonic asked. Rachel looked at Sonic, then at Knuckles, then back at Sonic.

"No," she said sitting up abruptly, "Nothing happened." Sonic looked over at Knuckles. He was still in the creek, looking down at the ground feeling miserable. Sonic walked up and sat by Rachel.

Knuckles stood up slowly and sheepishly said, "Bye, Rachel," and ran off. _Good riddance, _Sonic thought, grinning to himself. He turned towards Rachel. She was staring at Sonic, tears flowing down her face. She buried her face in his chest, feeling dazed and confused. Sonic wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead. "Everything will be ok," he reassured her, "I won't let anything happen to you."

"But what do I do?" she cried clinging to him. She turned her head towards the sunset. The sky was turning black, and the moon was becoming more visible. Rachel became afraid. _What if he runs away from me? _She thought. Rachel looked up at him. His face was towards the sunset too.

"Are you leaving?" she asked, her voice shaking. Sonic smiled and shook his head. "No," he said, "you need to know the truth." He let go of her and backed away. She got up to get closer, but Sonic put up his hand and told her to stay there. She hesitated, but obeyed staying still watching Sonic intently. Sonic faced the sun as it disappeared completely. He grunted in pain and fell to the ground. Rachel started to get up, but Sonic said, "Stay back," through his teeth. Then, Rachel watched in amazement as Sonic started to change. His dark blue hair changed to black fluff and white on the end of his quills and near his hands. He grew bigger in size and his gloves ripped off as his claws started forming. As he was yelling in pain, Rachel saw his teeth grow sharper into fangs.

When the transformation was over, Sonic looked up at Rachel with his green eyes. Rachel took a step away from him.

"Oh my gosh…" Her body shook with fear. Was this really Sonic? Sonic grunted as he slowly rose to his feet.

"Rachel, wait, there's no need to be scared of me!"

Rachel continued to stare at him with wide eyes. Was he really in control of himself? Would he start to try and eat her, or harm her in any way? She took another step back, her arms wrapped around herself. She shook her head in disbelief.

"Oh my gosh…"

"I'm still the same, Rachel," he said. His eyes stared at her pleadingly. She stared back. She could see it. She could see that it was Sonic under those fur and claws. He took a step towards her. This time, she stayed perfectly still, although part of her was telling her to run away. Sonic reached out a hand and gently touched her arm. Rachel cringed slightly under his touch. Sonic took his hand away, his face now full of sadness. He stared at his hands.

"This is why I didn't want you to know," he explained, "because I knew you would be scared. I knew you wouldn't like me anymore if you found out that I turned into this… monster…" He buried his face in his hands, feeling nothing but despair. Rachel looked at him sympathetically.

"Sonic…" She took a step closer to him. "I still like you, Sonic. It's not that I'm afraid of you, it's just that… I'm not used to this yet. Once I spend more time with you when you're like this, then I'll get used to it. But right now, I just need to adjust, that's all."

Sonic looked up at her. "Really?"

Rachel smiled and nodded at him. "Yes."

Sonic frowned and looked down again. "But how can you love me when I'm like this?"

Rachel gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, catching Sonic completely off guard. He looked at her in shock. She smiled and held his hand in hers.

"Let's go back, ok?"

Sonic smiled and nodded as they made their way back to Rachel's house, their hands twined together.

Rachel was lying in bed with her blankets over her.

"Are you going somewhere?" she asked Sonic who was at her bedside. Sonic smiled. "I won't be gone long," he promised. He kissed her on the forehead. "Goodnight Rachel." He turned around, turned the light off in her room and went downstairs and outside. _Now to find Knuckles, _he thought with anger.

Knuckles was at the hill on the outer rim of the ditch. He was staring at the moon, thinking hard about Rachel. _I'll do whatever it takes to be with her, _he thought.

Knuckles turned around. Sonic was standing in the ditch staring at Knuckles with determination.

"What do you want?" Knuckles growled. Sonic stayed where he was.

"I want you to stay away from Rachel!" Sonic said with anger, "I know that you love her, but I love her too." Knuckles turned towards him.

"Well, she can only love one of us," he sighed, "so how do we solve this predicament?"

"We have a competition," Sonic said sternly, "Rachel decides who she likes best by us both trying to win her heart." Knuckles grinned. "Fine. Just don't cry when you lose." Sonic turned around and said, "It begins in the morning, and Rachel can't know."

Chapter Eleven:

Rachel slowly opened her eyelids. She rolled her eyes towards the red digital numbers on her alarm clock. 7:07 a.m. Rachel smiled. Up at the crack of dawn. She rolled her covers off and dangled her bare feet over the edge of her bed. She stood up and meandered downstairs. When she got to the wooden floor in the hallway and looked into the living room to find Sonic wrapped up in a green blanket, rolled over and snoring slightly on the couch. Rachel grinned. She tip-toed to the couch, gently took the edge of the blanket, and yanked it off of him.

Sonic's eyes snapped open and he looked around wildly in confusion. Rachel fell onto the floor and laughed so hard that she started crying. Sonic smiled.

"You think that's funny?" he asked as he leaped onto her. They were both rolling on the floor laughing for about 3 minutes straight. When they had calmed down, they were both gasping for breath, Sonic sprawled on the floor and Rachel on top of him. Sonic pushed Rachel's hair behind her ear. He gazed around.

"So, where have your parents been?" Rachel gasped. She had completely forgotten about them.

"I don't know," she said with awe. She started to giggle. "They have been gone a long time, though, haven't they?" Sonic laughed.

"Hey, while they're gone, I was wondering, do you want to go out with me sometime?" Rachel grinned and screamed. She threw herself onto Sonic and said, "Yes! Yes! Yes, I will!" Sonic beamed at her.

"Good. Shall we go outside then?" Rachel looked at him, totally confused. Sonic smiled and explained.

"Our date's going to be somewhere I found when I was out for a run that's really cool!"

"Yes, but, right now?" Rachel asked. Sonic nodded.

"It's beautiful in the daytime! Come on!" Rachel yelped as Sonic kicked her off her feet and carried her out the door and out of her neighborhood.

Sonic stopped at a lake with dozens of trees full of pink and white flowers. Rachel couldn't breathe; It was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen! The petals of the flowers were blowing away with the wind. Sonic let her go and she stood up. She walked towards the lake, her feet going through the soft grass.

Sonic smiled. "So, do you think this is a good spot?" Rachel beamed at him and nodded enthusiastically. She followed Sonic under a tree, laid next to him, and Sonic told her all about how he became a werehog.

After a long morning's date, Sonic took Rachel back to her house. She went halfway up the stairs and signaled for Sonic to follow. "Why?" Sonic asked. "So we can hang out in my room," Rachel replied. Sonic nodded and followed her. Rachel sat on her bed and Sonic did the same. She put her head on his lap as Sonic started stroking her hair. He smiled. "Well, Rachel, at this point in time I can only guess, but, I'm pretty sure we're officially boyfriend and girlfriend." Rachel smiled as Sonic leaned down and kissed her. Rachel felt a sudden jolt travel through her body, as if something that had been happening her whole life had just suddenly stopped. She cried out in pain. Sonic got up with a start and started to panic.

"Are you ok Rachel!? Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, did I do that!? Oh my gosh!" Rachel sat up slowly. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm sure it's nothing you did. It's just that… It feels like something has changed inside of me… like…"

"Like something that's been happening your whole life has just stopped?" Sonic finished for her. Rachel's eyes widened and she nodded. "Yeah…" Sonic stared at her and sighed. "Well, I guess you'll be thirteen forever…"

"What?"

"Yeah. This is this is the happiest moment of your life, right?" Rachel nodded.

"Nothing but happiness inside of you at that moment?" Rachel nodded.

"Well, the happiest moment of your life is when you stop aging. That's what happened to me. I've been fifteen for at least five years." Rachel's mouth gaped open. Sonic smiled weakly. "But don't worry. Things will still be the same between us. Maybe even better!" Sonic placed his hand on her face and kissed her once more. Rachel clung onto him and wanted the moment to last forever.

_Crunch, snap, crunch, snap, crunch, snap. _Knuckles couldn't stop pacing. He hadn't gotten a chance to see Rachel because Sonic had taken her away. He stopped mid-pace and thought, _Does that matter? She doesn't know about the competition. _He smiled and broke into a dead sprint towards Rachel's house.

Rachel heard the door bell ring and got up with a start.

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked getting up with her. "Someone's at the door!" she exclaimed. Sonic frowned. _The perfect moment, ruined, _he thought watching as she traveled down the stairs.

Rachel ran to the door and looked through the eyehole. She threw it open and hugged Knuckles before he even opened his mouth. Knuckles blushed, surprised that she was hugging him, as he remembered their last encounter.

"I thought you had left for good!" Rachel screamed grinning ear to ear. "I was worried that I'd never see you again!" Knuckles smiled.

"Well, I'm here now! Say, do you have any free time? 'Cause, I wanted to know if you would go out with me."

His words hit her like a brick wall. She stared nervously at the stairs, gazing at Sonic who was at the top. He was very upset at this, but nodded his approval. Rachel smiled weakly at him and turned back to Knuckles.

"Ok, when should I meet up with you?" Knuckles smiled. "Actually, I was wondering if we could leave now." "Sure," Rachel said. She took Knuckles' hand and let him lead her away, leaving Sonic angry and heartbroken.

Knuckles took Rachel to a waterfall hidden in a beautiful grove. Rachel was climbing down rocks to the pool of water under it. She dipped her bare feet into the cool, crystal clear water. Knuckles was on shore, watching her as she waded towards him.

"What's wrong, afraid of the water?" she teased.

"No," he said, "I just think it's a little cold." Rachel laughed. "Oh yeah? Well, come see for yourself!" She grabbed his arm and threw him into the water. Knuckles splashed and emerged on his hands and knees. He was soaked and spit out water. Rachel giggled at him. "Oh yeah? You think that's funny?" He turned around, grinning and with one eye opened. "Well, how about this!" He charged forward and tackled Rachel into the water. They laughed as they tossed each other around and splashing at each other.

After 20 minutes, Knuckles crawled onto a rock, wet and weak from laughter. "Oof!" Rachel jumped onto his chest, soaked and panting. She smiled up at him, leaned forward, and kissed him.

After 2 more hours, Knuckles brought Rachel home and told her goodnight.

"HEY!" Knuckles spun around and saw Sonic standing there looking determined.

Chapter Twelve:

"What are doing stealing my girlfriend?" Sonic said with gritted teeth. Knuckles laughed loudly. "Your GIRLFRIEND? Last time I checked, this competition was to see who would be Rachel's boyfriend!"

"Yeah, well, you ruined my date with her! I was having the best time ever! She and I were so happy in-.." He stopped short and grinned widely, thinking about how to mess with Knuckles.

"You know, our date was perfect. We went on a date near a lake and then we went to her room and started making out. But, I'm sure YOUR date with her was MUCH better." Knuckles' face flushed.

"You and Rachel were… Making out?"

"Yep. I think she really liked it! It was amazing, but you wouldn't know because you can't impress a lady no matter how hard you-…"

_WHAM! _Knuckles punched Sonic in the face as hard as he could, fuming and shaking with rage. Sonic fell to the ground with a big _THUD. _He got up with a giant bump on his cheek. He sprinted down to the ditch in a flash. Knuckles chased after him, trying not to lose him.

He stopped at the top of the ditch and couldn't see Sonic anywhere. He looked around frantically. _SMACK! _Sonic came out of nowhere and kicked him in the chin. Knuckles staggered, but stayed on his feet and punched Sonic in the stomach. Sonic slid backwards and remembered something. _Knuckles is stronger, but I'm faster! _He ran into the ditch and Knuckles followed.

There was a concrete box that led to the sewer that Sonic jumped on. Knuckles jumped up and tried to punch Sonic, but Sonic was quicker. He dodged in time and tried to kick Knuckles, but he blocked it and punched Sonic in the eye.

Sonic spun around and fell down on his hands and knees. He got up and kicked Knuckles, causing him to roll down the other side of the ditch. _CRACK! _Knuckles hit a rock and it broke into hundreds of pieces.

He growled and raced up the hill and threw Sonic into the concrete. He hit his head and became disoriented, but got up and ran up a tree. He got to the very top, gasping for breath. Knuckles grabbed the tree, pulled it up revealing all of its roots, and whipped it as hard as he could.

Sonic went soaring across the sky and fell into the creek face first. He grunted as he got up and saw Knuckles racing towards him. He leaped up and kicked Knuckles into a tree. It snapped with a _crack _and Knuckles formed several scratches all over his body as branches dug into his skin. He rose up and glared at Sonic. Both were bloody, bruised, broken, and exhausted.

"Sonic…? Knuckles…?" came a weak cry from the forest.

Chapter Thirteen:

Rachel couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned in bed, remembering what had happened when she had first met Sonic.

She had been walking home from school when she had noticed something blue in the bushes near a house. She looked around to make sure that no one was watching and snuck over to it. She gasped when she saw an unconscious creature laying there. She didn't know it at the time, but it was really Sonic. She had run all the way to her house to see if anyone was there. When she saw that nobody was there, she ran back to the bushes to gently pick up Sonic. She carefully carried him back to her house, always glancing around to make sure nobody saw them. She burst through the front door and rushed him upstairs to her room. She laid him on her bed and took care of him for the next few days. She would always make sure her parents didn't see, and she prayed every day that he would wake up. For three days all he did was murmur in his sleep or twitch slightly. But, as Rachel went upstairs to check on him one day, she put a hand on his face and his eyes snapped open and he jolted up, gasping as though he had just been underwater. It had startled Rachel so bad. Sonic had looked around frantically and looked at Rachel, fear in his eyes.

"Who… who are… y-you..?" Sonic stammered. Rachel was just as shocked as he was. "I- I won't hurt you… I just want to help… My name's Rachel…" Sonic had looked at her for awhile before responding. "I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog." He smiled weakly and Rachel laughed. "Well, nice to meet you Sonic." They shook hands and Rachel showed him around the place he would be kept in for nearly a month and a half. The more Sonic got to know Rachel, the more he started to like her. Soon, he had a crush on her. The same thing had happened to Rachel. But they wouldn't tell each other for another three weeks.

She stood up and looked out of her still cracked window. She was wondering if Sonic was ok. She was hoping that he would be there so that she could tell him that one date with Knuckles didn't change anything. Just as she was turning around, a blue blur appeared outside. She became hopeful and rushed outside to meet him.

When she had run up to the edge of the forest, she couldn't believe her eyes. Sonic and Knuckles were hitting each other with great force. She started trembling with fear. "Why are they doing this?" she asked herself. As they ran deeper into the forest, Rachel started crying out of control. She ran towards them, tears rolling down her face. She stopped dead as she saw Sonic and Knuckles glaring at each other.

"Sonic…? Knuckles…?" she cried desperately. Sonic turned and stared at her in horror. _How does she know that we're here? _He wondered to himself. Knuckles looked at her too, gaping. "Rachel…" Sonic said desperately, "I can explain."

Rachel's body was shaking terribly. Her knees wobbled to the point where she thought she couldn't stand anymore. "Wh-why are you two fighting so horribly?" she asked, her voice choking as tears poured down her cheeks. She hated seeing people fight… Especially people she cared about.

"Rachel…" Knuckles muttered, holding his throbbing arm, "I'm sorry. We didn't want you to see that we were fighting over you."

"See you two beating the crap out of each other? You thought you could save me from that? What you do you think I would've seen when you came back to the house?" she sobbed.

"Rachel…" Sonic reached out a hand towards her shoulder, but Rachel stepped away from him, her eyes shut tight.

"This is all my fault, isn't it?" she cried, "It's all my fault that you two have come to this! I should've known that I couldn't love you two at the same time! I've been so stupid!" She ran out away from the scene, her emotions getting the better of her.

"Rachel, wait!" Sonic started to run after her, but he had to slow down since he was still hurt. Knuckled sadly realized that he would only make things worse if he went too, so he limped in the other direction.

When Sonic finally caught up to Rachel, she was knelt on the ground, crying into her hands. Sonic grimaced as he knelt down beside her and wrapped one of his arms around her shoulder.

"Rachel, don't cry. It's not your fault. It's just that… we both love you, and we can't stand to be without you. And if one of us is with you, then the other one can't be with you. So that's why we started fighting."

Rachel sniffled. "I guess I get it… But I don't want you guys to fight like that anymore, ok?"

Sonic smiled and nodded. "Of course." He grunted as he laid down on the ground. Rachel smiled and laid down next to him. He brought her close and wrapped his arms around her.

"Do you remember when I had sprung my leg out at the front of your neighborhood, and how you came running like a mad woman over to me as fast as you could?" Sonic whispered. Rachel smiled as she remembered that day.

Sonic had been running outside three weeks after Rachel had first found him. He was running at almost top speed when he tried to jump over the stone gate at the front of Rachel's neighborhood. He started falling a little early and his leg hit the stone hard while the rest of his body kept falling. He yelled out in pain as he fell to the ground. He had held his leg and crawled to the bushes so that nobody could see him. He grunted in pain as he tried moving it. He could still move it, but it felt like someone had been slicing it with a sword. Sonic yelled again and quickly clasped his hand over his mouth in case somebody had been nearby. He lay on the ground, leaving his injured leg bent. "You've always been there for me ever since I came here Rachel. Please, don't let me down now." He had prayed. Luckily, Rachel had been looking for him anyways. She was worried because he had been gone so long. She had heard somebody yell out in pain and ran towards them. When she saw that it was Sonic, she had screamed and instantly knelt to his side.

"Are you ok? Here let me see your leg…" Rachel had touched his leg and looked at it carefully. Sonic had blushed when she had tried to move his leg. He grunted and she instantly stopped. She had touched his arm and asked if he was ok. Sonic nodded, his face turning bright red. Rachel had blushed, smiled weakly and stared at the ground. Sonic had placed his hand on her face. She had turned really bright red. They didn't know it at the time, but at that moment, they had both fallen in love with each other.

She turned around and pressed herself against him, and she whispered to him, "I love you."

Chapter Fourteen:

Knuckles opened his eyes slightly and saw the rising sun. He ached all over and had been bleeding pretty bad. He didn't want anyone's help. He wanted to be alone on the grassy field, where the trees danced and the wind sang. But he knew all too well that it wouldn't last forever.

_Weeeeeeeeeee, yoooooooooouuuuu, weeeeeeeee, yoooooooouuuuu. _Knuckles heard the distinct sound of police sirens in the distance. He waited, listening. For whatever reason, the sound seemed to be getting louder, and closer. He saw the street no too far away fill up with police cars.

_Wait, they're not coming for…? _Knuckles got up and watched the cars intently. One of the policemen pointed up at him. Knuckles finally knew what was going on. He got up and ran, but he didn't get too far because he was still hurt.

A net came out from behind him and wrapped around him like vines. He thrashed around, desperate to get free, but the police had taken him and flung Knuckles into a cage.

Rachel awoke to yelling that seemed to come from right outside. She sprung up and rushed to the office window. She opened the blinds and held her breath as she saw policemen marching to her front door. She ran downstairs to answer the door. When she opened it, the police officer asked, "Are you Rachel Albers?" The whole neighborhood seemed to be there, trying to see what was going on.

"Yes," Rachel replied nervously. What had she done wrong? The officer took her arm and dragged her outside.

"Wait…! Stop…! Let me go…!" What did I do…!? Help…!" Rachel kicked and screamed as he clamped his hand over her mouth. He threw Rachel into the car, with her arms tied behind her back in ropes.

"There's only one more!" the officer yelled, "Find him!"

Sonic heard Rachel as she frantically ran downstairs. He was in the basement when he heard another person question Rachel. He didn't know what was going on, but it seemed fishy.

Suddenly, he heard Rachel screaming. Sonic ran upstairs to the front door. It was closed. Sonic looked out of the window in the dining room just in time to see Rachel being thrown into a car.

"There's only one more! Find him!" Sonic knew they meant him. He ran out the back patio room and to the side of the house to see the police burst open the front door.

Chapter Fifteen:

Rachel looked up. Knuckles was in a cage wrapped in a net. He was trying to bite his way through it, which Rachel found funny, but she didn't laugh because they were in a serious situation. After struggling for several minutes, Knuckles looked up in absolute surprise. It was his first time noticing that Rachel was there.

"They were talking about Sonic, weren't they?" Rachel asked. Knuckles didn't seem to be paying attention. He just stared at her in shock.

After several moments, he asked, "Why are you here? I thought that you had told the police about Sonic and I!" Rachel stared at him, and instantly became upset.

"How can you say that!? I love you and Sonic! I don't know why this is happening!"

Both of them were silent, staring at each other. Then, voices boomed from outside.

"He's not here! Let's take these two back and then search again!" The engine of the car roared to life. It began moving forward towards the gate of the neighborhood.

Sonic heard the car engine start. They had finally stopped looking for him. Sonic raced towards the car and followed it to its destination.

Knuckles and Rachel were being guided to a small office in the police station. They were both untied, but in handcuffs. Knuckles was still beat up, but was healed slightly. When they went inside the office, the sheriff was behind a milk chocolate brown desk.

When he saw them, he smiled.

"Aw, Rachel! How nice to see you! My other guests told me to bring you along with Knuckles!"

Rachel could barely contain her laughter. The sheriff had an over exaggerated southern accent. Knuckles, however, was very serious. "What do you mean other guests?" The sheriff smiled.

"Oh, Rachel should know them, they're the ones who turned you two in and reported the hedgehog." Two people stepped in from a back door. Rachel gasped. "Mom!? Dad!?"

Her mom smiled weakly. "Hi sweetheart." Her dad stood back and stayed silent.

"How could you!?" Rachel screamed, lurching forward. Her mom became frightened.

"Now sweetie… Let me explain! We turned you in as well to offer a deal! We knew one of your friends would escape, so we brought you to tell us the truth! They will let you go if you tell them where Sonic is." Knuckles stared at Rachel intently. _Please don't tell them… please don't tell them…_

"But first," Rachel said, "how did you know about Sonic and Knuckles?"

"Katie told us," her father said plainly, "about how you ran from the house, and she said she saw them coming back to the house, AND your little affair with Sonic."

"Ok," Rachel replied feeling flustered and embarrassed that they had heard about that, "and the answer to your question is no." Her mother's face flushed. "What did you say?" "I won't tell you where Sonic is," Rachel repeated firmly. The sheriff sneered.

"Then, I guess you'll be spending some quality time with Knuckles."

Chapter Sixteen:

They were thrown into the same, rusty old gross cell. The cops had taken their handcuffs off and Rachel was rubbing her wrists. The cell consisted of rusty, scraped off walls. There were two beds with bed frames that looked as though they might disintegrate. The mattresses and pillows were as thin as paper, and the sheets looked like nobody had washed them in 500 years.

Rachel felt completely helpless. She wanted to get out of there, but she didn't want to betray Sonic and Knuckles.

"Do you hate me?" "What?" The question came so suddenly that Rachel almost had no answer. "Oh, of course I don't! Why would you think that?"

Knuckles stared off into the distance. "Because when I told you how I felt, you seemed….. Angry." "I'm not angry, and I don't hate you! Just because I'm dating Sonic doesn't mean that I don't care about you! You said you were fighting over me, but why?"

"Because Sonic said that you liked him more! He said that you wanted to spend more time with him!"

"But that's not true!" Rachel cried, "Why would he say such things?" Knuckles held his breath. He didn't want to tell her about the competition, but it seemed that he had no choice. He sighed.

"Sonic and I are, or were, having a competition to see who would win your heart first. We weren't using you though, I promise!"

Rachel said nothing, but understood. They both loved her and wanted to see who she liked more. She smiled weakly. "Well, I guess that means you care, right?" Knuckles laughed. He hugged her and smiled to himself.

Sonic ran through the hallways until he reached a big gold and copper door. _This must be where they keep track of prisoners, _he thought to himself. He rushed to the door and burst it open. The sheriff was sitting in a chair behind his desk, his back facing Sonic. He turned around and smirked.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the runaway hedgehog. It's about time you show up!"

"Let my friends go!" Sonic yelled. The sheriff laughed.

"Really? Should I? What if I don't?" Sonic looked on the table and noticed a tazer gun. He grinned.

"Then, I'll do this!" He ran up, snatched the tazer and shot it at the sheriff. The sheriff had a spazz attack and then fell to the floor. Sonic dropped the gun and stared at the unconscious sheriff with his eyes wide and his mouth gaped open.

"THAT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!" Sonic yelled jumping up and down. Then, he remembered why he was there. He started searching the office for some kind of map of the cells. Instead, he discovered the location of the prison courtyards. He smiled and sprinted down the hallways.

Chapter Seventeen:

Rachel started coughing. She felt very sick after being in the cell for 2 hours. She wondered where Sonic was, and if he was ok. Knuckles was trying to pull the bars apart, but he was still weak. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten. But he was more worried about Rachel and her safety.

Then, the cell door slid open. Knuckles thought about taking Rachel and making a run for it, but there were guards everywhere, so he didn't take his chances. The prisoners around them were walking down the hallway. Curious, Knuckles took Rachel, who was still coughing, by the arm and lead her down the hallway.

It led to a courtyard surrounded by tall walls with guards on top. All of the other prisoners were sitting around, looking pale and hopeless.

Rachel looked up for the first time. She gazed at the other prisoners and noticed that they were both men and women of every age. Literally, every age. She felt sorrow grow in her as she saw a little six-year old boy crying in a corner. She could see his ribs showing and his face bones were clearly visible.

"Come on," Knuckles whispered, leading her to an empty chair. She sat down feeling exhausted and nauseous. She looked up and saw a guard marching towards her.

"Hey, you there!" the guard yelled. Knuckles turned around and glared at him. Rachel started shaking. What did he want with her?

"The warden needs to see you!" The guard grabbed Rachel's arm and yanked her towards him.

"Let her go!" Knuckles yelled. He punched the guard in the nose so hard that it broke and started bleeding. Rachel screamed and fell to the ground. She felt dizzy; she could barely see anything. All of the sounds around her grew quiet. Then, she kneeled over and threw up. Other guards started running in towards Knuckles. They grabbed him by the arms as he kicked around.

"You are going to be severely punished for this!" said the guard with the broken nose.

Sonic ran to the courtyard. Actually, he was on the walls surrounding the courtyard. It was night time, and Sonic was in his werehog form. He looked down into the courtyard and saw guards rushing towards one spot. He looked up and saw Knuckles being picked up and being brought to the gallows at the other end. Rachel looked ghostly pale as other guards locked her into a cage nearby. Sonic reacted quickly as they put a rope around Knuckles' neck.

The guards wrapped a rope around Knuckles' neck as he stood on a wooden stage. Rachel looked on in horror as they locked the cage she was in. She held her breath as one of the guards started speaking.

"You are being hung for resistance against prison rule. You shall be hung by the rope until suffocated." Knuckles said nothing. He was afraid that he would actually die. As the executor wrapped his hands around the lever, a black figure kicked him in the face from above.

"Sonic!" Rachel screamed. Sonic took the rope off of Knuckles' neck and rushed over to the cage. He threw and punched the guards out of the way. He took the bars of the cage and ripped them off. He went into the cage and took Rachel's hand.

"Are you all right?" he asked. Rachel smiled. "Yeah. I'm fine."

Chapter Eighteen:

Sonic hugged her. "Wait here. I'm going to make sure that Knuckles is ok." Rachel nodded as Sonic let go of her and ran towards Knuckles. He stretched his arm towards the stage and pulled himself towards it. Knuckles was punching and kicking all of the guards to the point of their bones snapping. Sonic helped him out as the other prisoners stood frozen in shock. When the last few guards remained, Sonic and Knuckles growled at them. They ran away screaming. Sonic and Knuckles grinned and gave each other a high five. They ran over to Rachel and she smiled at them. Sonic looked at her intently and frowned.

"Are you sure you're all right? You look really pale." "Yes, I told you I'm… I'm…" Her eyes started to droop. It was hard to even sit for her. She closed her eyes and collapsed.

"RACHEL!" Sonic and Knuckles yelled in unison. Sonic knelt down at her side and felt her forehead. Knuckles looked around and saw that everybody was no longer staring at them. They were looking at the gate with a great amount of fear. There were footsteps drawing nearer to the courtyard. A tall man emerged with the now conscious sheriff following closely behind, wobbling as he walked.

"Uh… Sonic?" Knuckles whispered. Sonic looked up.

"Is this the one?" the tall man asked, turning towards the sheriff. "No Warden… He was little, and blue and he had gloves…" The Warden looked at Sonic and Knuckles.

"Well, in any case, these two have injured most of the guards, and I need to speak with the girl." He sneered. "Take her to my office." Two big guards with metal suits came out and walked towards Rachel. Sonic and Knuckles braced themselves for a fight. But before he even flinched, a dart came spiraling towards Sonic and hit him in the arm. Sonic grunted. He pulled the dart out and looked up as two more arrows came from the top of the wall. They hit him, and Sonic began to stagger, his eyes drooping. Knuckles went over to help him, but was soon hit as well. He fell to the ground and crawled towards Rachel desperately, but passed out before he could get to her. Sonic fell down too and looked up as the guards Rachel away. Sonic felt his body go slack as his vision soon disappeared.

Knuckles opened his eyes and instantly saw the familiar sight of the prison walls. There were two guards dragging his limp body to the cell. They pushed the rickety door open and threw Knuckles inside, closing the door with a loud _BANG. _Knuckles curled up into a ball on the floor feeling sick and hopeless.

Sonic opened his eyes. He struggled a little bit as his began waking up, and he heard a rattling noise when he tried to move his arms. He glanced over and saw rusty chains hooking him to the wall. He looked down and saw that the same type of chains were on his ankles. A rusty old door creaked open, and the tall figure of the Warden appeared. He smirked. Sonic saw another shadow coming and realized that the Warden wasn't alone. A man dressed in all black with a black hood over his face strolled with a whip grasped tightly in his hands. (In other words, he FIRMLY GRASPED IT!)

"Well, well. It looks like you and your little friend caused me a bit of trouble this evening," the Warden said with a tinge of delight in his voice.

Sonic held his breath as the black hooded man brought his whip up and sent it down on Sonic's chest, leaving a big, red scratch.

Chapter Nineteen:

Rachel's eyes dazed open. She looked around slowly as she tried to figure out where she was. It was no place that she had ever seen before. The walls were copper and there was no desk. She tried moving her arms to stretch but couldn't. She looked behind herself frantically and saw that she was chained to a chair.

Just as she started to struggle around, a tall figure emerged from a small doorway. Rachel didn't recognize him at all. She instantly stopped moving and stared at him. She became frightened as her eyes started to water.

"Now, now, don't be afraid," the tall man said calmly, "I only want some answers. Why don't we start with an easy one? Why won't you accept your parents' invitation home?" Rachel stared at him. "Because it's a trust thing, I guess." The tall man simply nodded.

"I see. So you don't trust your parents? Well then, let's move on to the next one. Why do you insist on protecting those creatures?" Rachel wanted to jump out and start to strangle him, but she knew that it would do no good. She remained calm and replied, "Because I love them." The man smiled.

"Well, now, isn't that interesting. It would appear that at least one of them cares about you too. The other appears too sick to revolt. The one that isn't, however, will be far too weak to fight for you."

Rachel's face flushed. The Warden quickly said, "No need to worry they'll be alive, but just barely." He sneered and turned around out the door. A guard entered and took Rachel by the arm and led her out as she stood there limp.

Sonic yelled in pain as the whip cracked and landed on his back, leaving another giant gash on his body. He was cut and bleeding everywhere on his body and could barely lift his head. The whip cracked again, this time landing on his left arm. Sonic yelled again and went limp on the chains, panting for breath and having no energy. His eyes went up slightly as his vision went hazy, and then went completely feeble.

Knuckles' stomach felt like it had done another back flip. He grunted as he turned over in bed, sweating badly and gasping for breath. He felt worse than ever before as he felt something move up his stomach. He fell to the floor and kneeled over, grunting. Then, he fell on his hands and knees as he began throwing up. Afterwards, he lay on the floor and coughed loudly, having no energy to move. Footsteps came from the other side of the hallway. Knuckles looked up curiously. A guard came into view while holding Rachel's arms behind her back. She was completely pale and staring at the ground, thinking hard about the Warden's words. The second she noticed Knuckles, she stared at him intently and forgot about what the Warden had told her. The guard opened the door and his eyes widened in surprise as Rachel ran into the cell voluntarily. He shut the door behind her as she ran up and hugged Knuckles. He didn't say anything as she began questioning him about how he felt. She put him on the bed noticing how he almost instantly fell asleep. He felt so exhausted and weak. His eyes snapped open as another guard came in. He had no desire to try and find out why.

"The warden has to speak to you," he growled. He grabbed Knuckles and literally dragged him down the hall. Rachel whimpered as she watched him disappear.

Then, yet another guard came in with a very limp Sonic behind him. Rachel clung to the bars of the cell and stared in horror as Sonic was put into a cell across from her. He made no sound and didn't move at all as he dropped to the floor like a rag doll.

"Sonic...? Sonic? SONIC!" Rachel screamed as she began sobbing uncontrollably while Sonic still made no movement or sound.

Chapter Twenty:

Knuckles was pushed into a dark room with barbed wires and an electrical outlet. The warden towered over him as he lay on the floor, weak and sick.

"I have a nice little surprise that I think you'll enjoy," the Warden sneered, "and I hope you've said your goodbyes." A guard came up and picked Knuckles up from behind and latched him to the barbed wires by his ankles and wrists. The warden walked over to a knob on the wall that had several faded out numbers. Knuckles braced himself as the knob turned slowly and electricity buzzed through the wires.

Rachel clung to the cell bars, tears streaming down her face as she kneeled on the floor staring at Sonic helplessly. From as far as she could tell, he was barely breathing. He hadn't moved or made any sounds since he had been put there. He was bleeding very badly.

A shadow appeared on the floor in front of Rachel. She whipped her head to the left and saw the tall man strutting towards her with a guard closely behind him. The Warden stopped right in front of Rachel's cell.

"Take the echidna to the solitary confinement chamber. Leave the girl here."

"And the monster, sir?" The Warden looked between Sonic and Rachel several times before saying, "Put him in her cell," he said grinning, "let her spend some time with him while he takes his last breaths." The guard immediately obeyed by opening Sonic's cell, picking Sonic up, opening Rachel's cell and throwing Sonic inside.

Rachel immediately clung onto him, desperate to make sure that he was at least breathing. The Warden walked back down the hall as the guard locked the cell. Rachel buried her face in Sonic's stomach and began crying heavily. Then, a faint voice started to speak to her.

"Ra-chel..." Rachel looked at Sonic's face in sudden surprise. Sonic's eyes were slightly open.

"Rachel..." Sonic put his left hand onto Rachel's face as he gazed at her. Rachel held his hand. "Sonic?"

Sonic smiled weakly up at her as he opened his eyes a little more. Rachel's mouth twitched and she started crying all over again as Sonic wiped off her tears one by one.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Knuckles yelled out in pain as electric bolts zapped through his body. He could barely stand the agony, and felt like he was going to pass away when the pain stopped. He went slack as he struggled to breathe. A door creaked open nearby as the Warden said, "Take him to his cell. It's the one with the girl and the other animal. I think he's learned his lesson for today." A guard unlatched Knuckles and dragged him by the arms to the cells.

"How did they do this to you? Did they question you? How bad did it hurt? Oh, that's too many questions... Are you ok at least?" Rachel rubbed Sonic's arm as he laughed feebly and sat up. "I think so...at least for now."

"You shouldn't sit up so fast! You're bleeding and you just woke up! Oh, please don't try and tell me that you're fine..." Sonic laughed again. "I wouldn't even dream of trying... Look, I'll be fine! This isn't any worse than anything else I've been through..."

Sunlight streamed in through the cell window, and in a quick flash, Sonic was himself again.

"Special delivery." Rachel whirled around and saw Knuckles being dragged by a guard. "KNUCKLES!" Sonic and Rachel yelled in unison. The guard threw Knuckles in the cell. Rachel caught and shook him roughly and felt for a pulse the moment she laid him on the floor. Sonic waited intently.

"Sonic..." Rachel said, her voice shaking, "I can't feel a pulse."

Chapter Twenty-one:

"WHAT!?" Sonic jumped up in surprise. He regretted it instantly as he fell to the ground in pain.

"Sonic, please be careful!" Rachel looked helplessly from Sonic to Knuckles, trying to make sure that both of them were ok. "I can't take care of both of you. Knuckles needs help right now!"

"Well, you seem rather calm considering the fact that you CAN'T FEEL HIS PULSE!"

Rachel's eyes started to mist as she put her hands on her face. She felt confused and hopeless, as though the world was caving in on her. Sonic immediately relaxed and wanted to take back yelling at her. _But, right now, _he thought to himself, _I have to save Knuckles. _Sonic crawled over to Knuckles and tried feeling for a pulse. He couldn't feel it. Rachel had been right. He sighed, and tried again, becoming more and more hopeless. He finally gave up, trying something new.

"Come on Knuckles," he whispered, "come back." His hand started shaking and he closed his eyes. He felt something move. He looked up to make sure that it wasn't his hand. "No..." he stuttered, "It can't be..." Knuckles' hand was twitching and his eyes were opening.

"Son-ic, Ra-chel," Knuckles stammered. Rachel took her hands off her face and raced towards him intently. "Knuckles!?" Sonic stared at him with great determination.

Knuckles opened his eyes halfway and grinned. Sonic laughed weakly and said, "Never scare me like that again Knucklehead!"

Rachel buried herself in Knuckles' chest and cried, "Never do that again! Never!"

Knuckles reached his hand and stroked her back whispering, "I'll be fine... don't worry."

Rachel was asleep, her head in Sonic's lap while Sonic gently stroked her hair. Knuckles was sitting behind her feet. He had taken her shoes off and was sitting staring at the ground. Sonic looked up at him and continued stroking Rachel. "You know we're going to get out of here at some point, right?" Knuckles looked at him and nodded. "But how? I mean, I guess dying is an option." Sonic grinned. "Nope. We'll have to come up with an escape plan." Knuckles' eyes widened. _Surely he can't be serious? _He thought.

Then, realizing that he was, Knuckles nodded and said, "When should we start planning?"

Rachel woke up lying in a bed and her head rested on Sonic's chest. Sonic was talking to Knuckles, who was on the bed parallel to them, about how to distract the guards for the escape plan. Noticing that she had woken up, Sonic looked down at Rachel and smiled.

"Well, at least one of us got some sleep." Rachel giggled and he kissed her on the top of the head. Knuckles asked, "So, when should we start this plan?" Rachel sat up and said, "Plan, what plan?" Sonic winked at her. "Don't worry. You'll see." He turned back to Knuckles. "Well, how about tonight? We'll be ready by then, right?"

"Yeah, I'll be ready." He laughed. "But first, Rachel needs an explanation." Sonic looked at her and laughed too. Rachel was looking at them like they each had 20 heads.

"Don't worry," Sonic said, "I'll explain when it's time." He touched her face and kissed her. Knuckles twitched and looked away in disgust. Rachel blushed as Sonic saw a guard walk by. Sonic waved his hand to signal Knuckles over. Knuckles got up as they all came in close in a tight circle.

"Ok," Sonic whispered, "we'll start the plan tonight when the guards let the prisoners out into the courtyard." He turned to Rachel. "All you need to know about the plan right now is that no matter what, always stand by me or Knuckles." Rachel nodded. Knuckles sighed. "Now, I guess we'll just have to wait."

Moonlight shone through the cell window on Sonic, making his black and white fur gleam. He was sitting on the ground, hugging his knees with his eyes closed. Knuckles was sitting behind him while Rachel was kissing him. "If anything happens, I want you to know that I love you," he whispered. "I love you too," Rachel replied.

The cell door creaked open. Sonic lifted his eyelids and watched as the other prisoners started to emerge into the hallway.

Chapter Twenty-two:

Sonic got up and glanced behind him. A flash of anger rose in him when he saw Knuckles hugging Rachel while her head rested on his shoulder. Rachel saw Sonic staring and quickly drew away from Knuckles.

"So, um... shall we head out?" she asked nervously. Sonic nodded. He took Rachel's hand as they walked out. Sonic glared at Knuckles as he ran to Rachel's other side. They all walked out into the moonlit courtyard where the other prisoners merely sat or walked around glumly. The three of them walked to the middle of the floor. Sonic looked around the top of the walls and the interior of the courtyard. He brought Rachel's ear close to him and whispered, "Stay here with me for now. Knuckles is going to distract the guards in here." Rachel gave a slight nod but felt skeptical. _If Knuckles distracts the guards and causes a commotion, won't the archers get him? _She wondered.

As if reading her mind, Sonic whispered, "Don't worry. If the archers start to move, I'll take care of them." Sonic pressed his lips against hers and hugged her close.

Knuckles looked back and saw Sonic kissing Rachel. Fury pulsed through him as he picked up a stone and chucked it at a guard's head. "OW!" Sonic stopped kissing Rachel but still held her close. Rachel stared in desperation as the guard charged towards Knuckles. Knuckles moved most of his body out of the way, but grinned as he stuck his foot out and caused the guard to fall flat on his face on the cold stone floor. Several more guards came to the scene and braced for a fight, but a voice yelled, "I would not do that!" The guards spun around and saw the Warden standing there. "Warden!" The guards parted and bowed as the warden marched towards Knuckles.

"So, you wish to cause more trouble?" he grunted. Knuckles smiled. "Yeah, I think you've got the idea!" He ran up and kicked the warden in the shin. "OW!" Sonic smiled and looked at the walls. The archers seemed to be too stunned to do anything. Rachel laughed as Knuckles ran up to one of the guards, stuck his tongue out at him, and then punched him in the nose. The other prisoners whispered to each other and nodded in agreement. They ran up and started fighting the guards too. Rachel looked at Sonic in confusion. He was smiling. _It's working! _He thought happily.

"Stay here!" he yelled to Rachel. He kissed her on the cheek and ran off. "But you told me to stay with-!" Before she could finish her protest, Sonic was out of sight. _Oh well, _she thought, _nobody will see me in this mess._ But suddenly, a hand clasped over her mouth. She tried to scream, but it was a muffled sound over all of the commotion, so she doubted that anybody had heard. Another hand came and grabbed her arms. Rachel stomped on her assaulter's foot and ducked as he tried to punch her. Rachel did a high kick into his jaw. He fell backwards in pain. Rachel saw two more guards running towards her. She ran and did a slide on the ground between one of the guard's legs. She kicked him behind the knee, and when he fell to the ground, she stepped on his head. The other guard came running up and tried to stab her with his sword, but Rachel jumped up, spun 360 degrees, and kicked his head. Sonic and Knuckles had stopped fighting and had begun watching the whole thing with their mouths open.

"Rachel-can-fight?" Sonic stuttered. Two more guards came up, and Rachel spun her arm around their sword and swiped it away. She then punched him in the mouth. The other guard came up and tried to strike her, but Rachel was quick and jabbed him in the arm, making it paralyzed. She hit four of his other pressure points with the tips of her fingers, then jabbed him in the chest. After five steps, he fell backwards and became unconscious. She ran over to a speechless Sonic and Knuckles. She grinned.

"Are you surprised?" she giggled. Knuckles nodded his mouth still open. Sonic looked at her with his eyes wide and said, "Rachel, I love you."

Chapter Twenty-three:

Knuckles saw out of the corner of his eyes the Warden fleeing into the prison. "Look!" Knuckles pointed towards him, (If that's possible), and Sonic and Rachel looked too. Sonic turned to Knuckles. "Stay with Rachel! I'll deal with him." Sonic ran off towards the warden. Knuckles grabbed Rachel's hand and held her close.

Sonic reached his arm towards the door and pulled himself closer. He kicked the warden to the ground, and then picked up two pieces of rope. The warden started to rise up, but Sonic pinned him to the ground and put one of the ropes inside of the warden's mouth and tied it behind his head. Then, Sonic took the other rope and tied the warden's arms behind his back.

"Now, warden, you're my prisoner." (I know, that was cheesy) Sonic said with a triumphant smile. Rachel and Knuckles ran over while the other prisoners fought the guards. "Here, let's go lock him in our old cell, and then we can leave," Sonic said. Rachel and Knuckles nodded. Sonic carried the warden like a potato sack into the building. Rachel and Knuckles stayed close behind. Sonic went to their old cell and threw the Warden inside. He slammed the door and grunted as he twisted the bars together, preventing him from getting out. The Warden squirmed and tried to scream, but he had no success. Sonic, Knuckles, and Rachel all ran back out to the courtyard where the riot was still going on. The guards and archers were all too busy trying to keep the prisoners under control to notice that their leader was gone. The three of them ran over to a wall.

"Hold onto me, Rachel," Sonic said. Rachel wrapped her arms around him while Sonic put one of his arms around her. Sonic reached his other arm to the top of the wall and pulled himself and Rachel up. Knuckles dug the claws in his hands onto the wall and started to climb it. When he reached the top, Sonic was carrying Rachel to the other side. Knuckles followed as Sonic jumped off the edge of the wall. Rachel screamed as they fell. Knuckles reluctantly followed them, and when he hit the ground, the three of them ran off as the sun rose.

Sonic's dark blue quills waved in the wind as he was running with Rachel in his arms. Knuckles was running beside him. Sonic and Knuckles skidded to a stop at the all too familiar ditch. Sonic gently let Rachel stand. He smiled, and then screamed out, "THAT WAS THE BEST JAIL BREAK EVER!"

Rachel giggled while Knuckles smiled and rolled his eyes. Sonic took Rachel's hand. "Come on, let's take you home." Rachel frowned. Sonic tugged on her a little bit, but she didn't even flinch.

"Come on Rachel! Don't you want to go home?" Rachel stood there and stared at Sonic. Knuckles was looking at her and understood. "What if my parents are there?" Rachel asked desperately, "What if they see you two again?" Sonic looked at Knuckles in question. Knuckles merely shrugged.

"Well, do you want to stay with us?" Sonic suggested, "We're going to find a way back home." "You're- going to try to get home?" Rachel muttered. Knuckles nodded, refusing to look her in the eyes. He couldn't stand to see the pain in her eyes. "Rachel, I'm really sorry... It's not that I'm sick of you it's just... There are people who need me..." Sonic said sadly. "I don't want to leave you Rachel, because I love you... but..." His eyes suddenly widened. "Hey!" He said it so loud that Knuckles jumped in surprise, "You could come home with us!" Rachel ran up to him. "Really!? You mean it!?" Sonic nodded enthusiastically. "Yep. I mean, you can't go home, can you? Not with all that has happened?" Rachel shook her head.

"No I can't. So, I will go to your world with you!" Knuckles beamed at her. Sonic hugged her. "Then it's settled!"

A dark shadow loomed over them. Rachel looked up and gasped. Sonic looked up in amazement and muttered, "It can't be..." Knuckles growled.

"Ho, Ho, ho, ho, ho!" "Eggman!" Sonic and Knuckles yelled in unison.

Chapter Twenty-four:

"Well, you pesky little hedgehog, it looks like you're in another sticky situation!" "What are you doing here Eggman?" Knuckles snarled. "Well, I got here the same way you two did! And, after several days of days of construction, I figured out a way back, but it doesn't involve getting you three there. But first, I need a life force," Eggman stated happily. He stared intently at Rachel from his ship/robot. "And I guess you'll be the easiest to get my dear!" A giant claw sprang out from a door in the robot. Rachel screamed as it grabbed her and pulled her away. Sonic ran up to try and grab her, but it was too late. She disappeared inside the robot while Eggman laughed evilly. The robot transformed into a jet and took off through the trees.

"RACHEL!" Sonic yelled. He sprinted off after the robot while Knuckles stood there, staring after them helplessly.

Sonic stayed under the jet as it sped off towards a giant metal building at least 200 m.p.h. Sonic kept running under it and staring up intently. The jet was headed towards a huge building made completely out of metal. Sonic kept running under the robot as he traveled through the dense grass fields. It slowed down as a door in the middle of the metal building slid open. The jet soared in and Sonic ran up the wall and into the door. The jet had landed onto a platform and two robots were taking Rachel, who was in a cage, into the big door at the far end. Eggman followed inside on his floating pod. Sonic waited a little while, and then quietly followed.

He followed them into a brightly lit chamber with a giant machine in the middle. The robots opened the cage and dragged a very frightened Rachel towards the top. Eggman took his pod into a control room, and started pressing buttons. The top of the machine opened, and a chair with two chains rose up. Rachel gasped as the robots threw her in the chair and tied the chains around her wrists. Rachel started to shake as the machine hummed to life. Sonic ran inside as Eggman grinned and pressed a button that caused the chains to grow tighter, and a light started to slowly turn on. Sonic sprinted up to it as Rachel screamed, and a big flash of light consumed the chamber.

Knuckles stared at the place where the jet had taken off with Rachel. He sat there, feeling as though he could've saved her. He growled and punched the ground in frustration, leaving a giant crack. A distant explosion suddenly caught his attention. A light appeared from the distance, and it came closer, and closer, until suddenly, Knuckles felt as though he was falling.

Sonic was laying on the ground near an ocean. He saw hills with loops in them and grass everywhere. Metal rubble lay around him. He slowly rose up and searched around. He noticed Rachel was lying face down.

"RACHEL!" He yelled, running to her side. He turned her over and noticed that her hair had some curls in it, and that a white streak was on the strand of hair on her right side closest to her face. Her green and yellow eyes had tears in them, and some of them were streaming down her face. She was desperately trying to breath, but barely could.

"Come on, Rachel," Sonic said desperately, "hang in there. I - I'll get some help, and – you'll be fine – come on Rachel stay with me." Sonic stroked her hair. Rachel opened her mouth to say something, but all that came out was small cries. "Shhhhhhhh, shhhh, don't try to talk, save your strength. Soon you'll be better, and you can come with me everywhere...We can get a house and live there together, I'll give you whatever you want! Just please...Don't leave...I love you... I need you." Sonic held onto her hand and took short quick breaths as Rachel's eyes filled with great fear, and tears flowed down her face. She took one final breath before her head fell back and she closed her eyes, making no sound. Sonic's green eyes quickly filled with tears of their own as he laid her down on the ground and buried his head into the middle of her chest and cried.

Chapter Twenty-five:

Sonic didn't know how long he had been crying, but after a while, an immense pounding sound came out of nowhere. Sonic thought that it was merely a storm, but a voice came from behind him. "Sonic?" It was a voice that Sonic immediately recognized, but didn't care about at the moment. "Sonic, staying here and crying won't help you," the voice said persistently. Sonic still didn't care. The voice sighed, and a big foot with sharp talons reached out and grabbed Sonic's arm.

"NO! NO! I can't leave her! Let me go, Thunder! NO!" Sonic kicked and screamed wildly as a brown and white roadrunner sadly dragged him away.

After several minutes, Sonic realized that Thunder wasn't going to loosen his grip. He stopped at a tall grass field and let go of Sonic. "Look," he said staring at Sonic, who was laying there with tears pouring down his face, "I know that you're upset because that girl died, but she's just some girl who-." "She's not just some girl!" Sonic protested jumping up. Thunder didn't even flinch. "I don't know how you felt about her, but what I'm trying to say is that she's yet another innocent life that Dr. Eggman took to get what he wants. You can't keep crying as long as Eggman is out there torturing people!"

Sonic stared at the ground and sniffled. "Ok, but not right now, ok. I... need some time alone..." he said softly. Thunder nodded sadly. Sonic slowly walked away, his feet shuffling. "Oh, Sonic!" Thunder called after him. Sonic turned his head. "I'm sorry about the girl," Thunder said. Sonic turned back forward and sniffled as he trudged along.

Knuckles was laying down in front of the Master Emerald, whistling to a tune of one of his clan's folk songs. Normally, he preferred not to whistle, but he couldn't stop wondering if Sonic had saved Rachel in time. He wanted to go and look for him, but he didn't know where to look, and he didn't want to betray his duties. He sighed. Then, a loud, thunderous sound came out of nowhere. Knuckles looked lazily up at the sky, and his eyes widened when he saw that there were no clouds. He looked around in confusion.

"Looking for Sonic?" Thunder yelled. Knuckles stared at him and grimaced. "What are you doing here?" he snarled. "Oh, just trying to help you out if you want to find Sonic. I just saw him, you know," Thunder said slyly. Knuckles jumped up. "You know where he is? Where?" "He's going to that abandoned house in the valley," Thunder said plainly.

"Great! Stay here and protect the Master Emerald for me! You'd better not steal it!" And with that, Knuckles ran off, pulsing with excitement.

Rachel's eyelids drifted open. She was laying on a steel table, and a glass tube surrounded her. Robots were working on her, but she couldn't tell how. Before she could do anything else, her eyes closed and she fell back asleep.

Chapter Twenty-six:

Sonic's feet felt heavy as he made his way towards an abandoned house in a peaceful valley. He enjoyed going there when things weren't going well or he just needed to be alone. The valley was pretty close to the ocean, and there was a beautiful hill nearby. Sonic sat on a rock near the water's edge and gazed at the sunset, remembering how he had been on a rock, holding Rachel when he saw his last sunset. He hugged his knees and placed his head on them.

"Sonic! Hey, Sonic!" Knuckles called out to him as he ran up. Sonic stayed where he was. Knuckles took deep breaths as he asked, "Sonic, where's Rachel? I really want to talk to her! Look, I know that you don't like it when I'm with her, but I want to make sure she's ok." Sonic began to tremble. "Knuckles..." he whimpered, starting to cry again. Knuckles stared at him intently. Sonic turned his head towards him. "Rachel's – Rachel's dead." He turned his head back around and buried his head in his knees, sobbing. Knuckles stared at him blankly, refusing to believe what he had heard. But Sonic rarely ever cried, so Knuckles had to believe it. He stood there dumbfounded as a single tear rolled down his face.

Thunder sat in front of the enormous diamond with his feathers covering his feet and his head on the ground. He felt and looked very disgruntled. He looked over and caught sight of Knuckles slumping over to him. Thunder leapt to his feet and ran over to him, making huge pounding noises as he went, but not on purpose.

"Great! You're back! Now, go and protect the Leader, or...Chief, or...whatever you call it emerald!" Thunder pushed him forward. "Have a nice day!" "Wait!" Knuckles called, not facing him, "Where's Rachel's body?" Thunder stopped in his tracks. "Who's Rachel? Wait, you mean the girl? That's her name? Wow, she seemed really pretty... I thought it was Lucy or something..." "Where is it!?" Knuckles demanded, clenching his fists. Thunder gulped. "Oh, uh...heh, heh." He smiled weakly and looked around nervously. He made circles in the ground with his talons. "Well, um...you see...Eggman has it..." Thunder could see Knuckles tense up when he said this, so he quickly added, "Now, now, wait a minute! It's not my fault, you see... As I was dragging Sonic away, Eggman's robots came and took her... I don't know why he wanted her, though, I swear!" With that, Thunder looked nervously around, and then ran off, leaving huge footprints behind him.

Sonic was inside on the bed in the main room crying his eyes out. He felt like all of the water in his body was coming out of his eyes. Then, a soft, familiar voice spoke to him. "Sonic." Sonic got up and looked around in alarm. "Sonic." He gasped. Rachel was standing there, smiling. He didn't speak. He couldn't. How could she possibly be there if she had died right in front of him? Before he knew it, Rachel was holding onto him and kissing him. They kept making out for a while, until a knock came at the door. Sonic jumped up in surprise. He let go of Rachel, ran to the door and opened it. Thunder was standing there staring at the ground looking guilty, but Sonic didn't seem to notice. He grinned.

"Thunder, I want you to meet Rachel!" He turned around and stopped. "Where – where is she? She was right here!" Sonic ran around frantically. Thunder stared at him doubtfully.

"Sonic, isn't she dead?" "Yes, – well, she was, but she was right here!" Sonic insisted. Thunder sighed. "Sonic, don't you think you're hallucinating? You saw her die yourself, she can't be alive!" Sonic fell onto the bed, his knees trembling. He put his hands on his face. Thunder's face showed his sorrow at his best friend's grief. But then, a small idea popped into his head. _I know how to make it better! _He thought excitedly. He ran off towards Eggman's base with anticipation.

Thunder looked into the metallic windows. He noticed a group of robots going back and forth from one particular table. Thunder went to another window to get a closer look. He gasped when he saw what was inside of a glass tube. He ran off towards the house in the valley as fast as Sonic.

Chapter Twenty-seven:

Knuckles sat by the giant green emerald with water pouring down his cheeks. He couldn't stop thinking about how he had felt when Rachel had agreed to come to his world. He had dreamed of Rachel being with him always on Angel Island, just the two of them. But Eggman had crushed those dreams. Knuckles became seething with rage. He wanted revenge. He wanted it bad. He sprung up and raced towards Eggman's base.

Thunder made his way to Sonic, who was by the water's edge again. He was staring at his reflection, trying to focus on something other than Rachel. Thunder ran up behind him and yelled, "HEY!" Sonic was scared so bad that he almost fell into the water. "Geez, Thunder!" Sonic gasped, "I almost fell in! You know I can't swim!"

"RACHEL'S ALIVE!" "What!? Thunder, I'm really upset! And all you do is come to me with stories that can't be true!"

"But it is! Rachel was in a glass tube and robots were surrounding her and her eyes were open and she was looking around!" Thunder said it so fast that he had to take 20 deep breaths. "Ok, fine! Take me to her!" Thunder beamed and ran alongside Sonic, both of them at top speed to Eggman's base.

They reached the big metal entrance door where Knuckles was catching his breath. "Knuckles? What are you doing here?" Sonic asked. "I'm here to get Eggman for what he did to Rachel!" Knuckles replied. Thunder frowned. "Well, I guess we can go in together," Sonic said, "I have to find Rachel." "To get the body?" Knuckles asked. "She's not even dead, noob!" Thunder yelled, "She's alive, I saw it!"

Knuckles' eyes widened. "Really? She's alive?" "No, she's skipping around with ponies and eating potatoes!" Thunder said rolling his eyes. Knuckles scowled. "Well, if you two ladies would stop fighting, maybe we can save her!" Sonic interrupted. Thunder and Knuckles immediately shut up and let Sonic lead them inside. Knuckles went towards the center of the building while Sonic and Thunder went down several corridors. Thunder led Sonic into a room with one glass tube in it. Sonic slowed down.

"I'll guard the door. You go and see Rachel!" Thunder whispered. Sonic walked forward and looked inside the tube. There, with her eyes closed, was Rachel, exactly the same way as when she died. Sonic could barely breath. He slowly opened the tube and whispered, "Rachel? Rachel?" Rachel slowly opened her eyes and smiled at the sight of Sonic. She sat up and pushed her curly brown hair with the white streak behind her ears. She touched Sonic's face. Sonic wrapped his arms around her and they started making out.

Thunder looked at them and coughed. "If you two lovebirds are done, robots are coming!" Sonic pulled his head away from Rachel and looked at the door.

"Hold onto me, Rachel!" Sonic instructed. "Ok," Rachel replied. Sonic picked her up and ran out the door and into the hall. Thunder stopped the giant robots that were marching down the hallway by flying up and punching them all the way through. Sonic ran off with Rachel and noticed Knuckles, who was ripping up the control center. The alarm started to sound and a huge robot emerged. Thunder ran forward and his eyes burst into flames, and the rest of his body burst into flames as well and grew larger. His phoenix form did a spiral right into the robot and destroyed it. Thunder turned back into his normal self and ran alongside Sonic as the building was consumed by fire.

"How long have you been able to do that?" Sonic asked. "I acquired the ability while you were gone," Thunder grinned. Knuckles waved to Sonic as he ran off towards Angel Island.

"On your mark, get set, GO!" Rachel yelled. Sonic and Thunder sprinted off towards the rock at full speed. Both of them stayed head-to-head the whole way. In the end, they both crossed at the exact same time.

"GOSH DARN IT!" Thunder yelled, "IT ALWAYS ENDS IN A FREAKING TIE!" Rachel and Sonic laughed. Sonic smiled and ran over to her. He embraced her and they started to kiss. "Ewwwww..." Thunder said making a sour face. They both laughed and Sonic faced the sun. "Everything is perfect," he whispered.

END OF BOOK 1!


End file.
